Can you hook up wireless routers without a modem?

Question

I just recently go a Linksys wireless router, and the instructions told me to hook it up to my modem. Problem is, I don't have a modem, or maybe it is built in. I know my internet is fast enough (it's wireless, 100 mbps). What do I do?

Answer 1

If you don't have a modem, what do you need a wireless router for?

Answer 2

Well, there's two options. One is to do the network without a modem. However, if you do this, you'll only have a network and no internet connection. You'll be able to share files and printers this way, but no internet. If you want internet to be shared on the network, you're going to have to buy a Cable or DSL router (often incorrectly referred to as a modem....modem stands for "modulate/demodulate"; since a DSL or cable signal is all digital anyway, there's no modulation occuring). If you have cable, you can get a Motorola router from Best Buy or Circuit City. If you have DSL, you'll have to order a router from them. Once you have that, hook it up to your Linksys as it says, and you should have wireless internet!

Answer 3

If you are on cable, you generally need a modem, the internet connection itself is not wireless. The modem connects to the cable line and you need a plain router (no modem) with a lan connection to the modem (wan side) and then there are lan ports and the wireless for the pcs. If you are on a dsl (telephone line) subscription you generally need a modem/router, this connects to the line and handles your login to the isp, the internal side works the same.

Answer 4

You will need a modem or a wireless router w/ a modem to connect to an ISP for your internet connection.

Answer 5

What type of internet connection do you have? I'm assuming since you're trying to hook up a wireless network, that you have a broadband connection.

All broadband connections require a modem of some sort. The modem the router instructions were referring to is generally either a cable or DSL modem. If you are able to connect to the internet, but do not have a modem anywhere in your house, then you may have a "DSL-lite" internet service, which is basically glorified dial up. In this case, there is a "modem" like device on the outside of your house in the telephone/dsl hookup box. For this type of connection, you would just insert the "DSL" line inside your house to your new router and configure from there. *Note* you will more than likely need to connect your computer directly to the router initially to configure the wireless network, once that is done you can disconnect the hard line and connect via wireless. To connect directly to the router, insert the DSL line into the router, and then connect a network cable from an output port(there will probably be several, use any of them) on the router to the port on your ethernet card(large port that resembles a telephone jack, next to blinking green light) on your pc.

The wireless,100 mbps you referred to is your Ethernet Adapter, a pci card which your computer uses to communicate with a modem or router and connect to the internet.

In the old dial-up days, you would've used an internal modem in place of an ethernet card. The internal modem connected directly to the phone line. In the small chance that you are still using a dial-up connection, then a wireless network is not for you. Wireless routers are designed for broadband connections, and even if there was a way to configure one on a dial up connection, you'd go hang yourself before the first webpage ever loaded.

On a side note, since you're new to the wireless networking world, allow me to add a comment on security. Wireless networks are notoriously insecure, and to ensure your personal information isn't stolen and that other's don't just leech off your bandwidth, there are several steps you should take to secure your network once the router is configured.
1: Encryption
There are several encryption protocols for wireless networks, the type available to you depends on your router. The most common is WEP, or Wired Equivalent Protection. This can be configured using the admin utitility of your router, accessed via the local IP address of your router(consult router manual or manufacturers webpage for specifics). Once you find the WEP(or other similar) encryption option, you will need to input a key code with which your wireless network traffic will be encrypted. Remember the key, because you will need to enter it the first time your computer connects to your router. This will make it more difficult for random people to connect to your network and drain bandwidth/gain access to sensitive/personal data. This method is not foolproof, and is actually easily cracked, but that's a topic for another time :)
Just know that having this encryption is safer than not, and will at least prevent the majority of leeching network surfers.

2.Broadcast SSID
The SSID is the "name" of your wireless network. By default, a "broadcast" signal with this id is sent out in intervals, to allowl legitimate users to locate the network more easily. It also advertises it's location to everyone within range, however, which is somewhat undesirable. The broadcast option can be disabled in the routers configuration menu(as per instructions above) but i would not recommend this for novice users, as it can be difficult to connect to a non-broadcast network in windows at times.

*Edit to add 3rd measure i forgot to include*
3. MAC address filtering. The MAC address is the physical address of the port on your ethernet adapter. Your router can be configured to only allow traffic from specific mac addresses. This is another good way to eliminate unwanted users, again, not foolproof, but a good measure anyhow. To find the mac address of your computer, open up a cmd prompt and type 'ipconfig -all' this will bring up all the nework information about your machine. Now your computer has a wireless card, so it actually has two mac adresses, one for the cable or "hard wired" connection, and one for the wireless one, so you'll need to do this step twice, once while connected diretcly via the cable, and again while connected via wireless. Once you have the mac adresses of your machine(and any other machines you want to use on your network) you just add these to the mac address filter list in your router configuration menu.

There's wireless networks and routers in a quick nutshell, hope this helps.

Answer 6

I think that you only need a wireless adapter (USB, PCI, whatever), and setup your wireless network by using the wizard. The adapter is NOT a modem, so you do not need a modem.
I hope that this answers your question.
I am also pretty new at this wireless networking thing as well, so If it does not work, try googling or asking someone else.